Proposed demarcation changes to current municipal borders could expand City of Cape Town land

Stellenbosch. Aerial view of Stellenbosch Municipality. Picture: Stellenbosch Municipality/Facebook

Stellenbosch. Aerial view of Stellenbosch Municipality. Picture: Stellenbosch Municipality/Facebook

Published Apr 5, 2023

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Cape Town - The City of Cape Town could see more farms and tracts of land from other municipalities fall under its administration in terms of the demarcation process now open for comments.

After the 2021 municipal elections, the Demarcation Board led a process to propose changes to the current municipal borders, such as the plan to include more than half a dozen parcels of farmland from the Stellenbosch and Theewaterskloof municipalities for inclusion into the City of Cape Town’s municipal borders.

This is among a raft of proposals to rejig all provinces’ municipalities’ borders, which the Demarcation Board published for comment on proposed Section 26 maps for municipalities on March 27, said Board spokesperson Barileng Dichabe.

Other proposals include the redetermination of the municipal boundaries of the Stellenbosch and Drakenstein municipalities by excluding Klapmuts north community from Drakenstein and demarcating it into Stellenbosch.

It suggests redetermining the municipal boundaries of the Stellenbosch, Cape Winelands District municipalities, and the metro by excluding the farm Hassendal 222 in Stellenbosch, from the City, and including it in the Stellenbosch and the Cape Winelands municipalities; and by excluding Kruis Road and Bottelary Road Reserves from the municipal areas of Stellenbosch and Cape Winelands and by including it into the City’s municipal area.

It wants to redetermine Stellenbosch, Cape Winelands and City municipal boundaries by excluding Farm 115 ST from the municipal area of Stellenbosch and the Cape Winelands, and including it into the City.

Other proposals include:

  • – redetermining the Beaufort West and Prince Albert local municipal boundaries, by excluding Leeu-Gamka from the Prince Albert Local Municipality municipal area, and by including it into Beaufort West’s municipal area
  • – redetermining Theewaterskloof, Overberg and the City municipal boundaries, by excluding the remainder of farms CN301, CN300, CN 94, portion 6 of farm CN287, portion 2 of farm CN829 and farm CN95 from Theewaterskloof and Overberg and by including them into the City’s municipal area
  • – redetermining municipal boundaries of Swellendam, Overberg, Hessequa and Garden Route by excluding portion 9 of farm 457 from the municipal areas of Swellendam and Overberg municipalities by including the farm into the Hessequa and Garden Route municipal areas.

DA provincial leader Tertuis Simmers said party structures were due to meet to discuss the demarcation process.

Deputy mayor Eddie Andrews, who doubles as Mayco member for spatial planning and environment, said the City would submit comments within the stipulated 30-day period.

DA MP Werner Horn said this would provide authorities the opportunity to “decouple” or “amalgamate” municipalities based on performance.

He said the deadline would be determined by the date of publication in the government gazette.

“The Demarcation Board is seemingly planning to do so this week, whereafter there will be a three-week period for final comments,” Horn said.

Dichabe said 228 proposals were received nationally, while eight proposals were received for the Province.

“Of the eight proposals received, two did not proceed to section 26 process,” she said.